September 05, 2011

THE DREADED HARD SELL

ME: "Venti iced coffee unsweet no room."

Starbucks barrista: "Would you like to try our clover whatever-it-was?"

ME: "Can you just give me what I ordered?"

She acted like I was the meanest queen on earth but I'm so sick of the constant hard-sell. I'm already there buying your over-priced product and you demand more before you accept payment? Whatever happened to customer is king? Or queen, in my case.

I know I shouldn't take it out on the employees but Starbucks is about to lose a very loyal customer. It's also very sick that someone in a boardroom decided that it would please customers to hear "May I help the next guest?" Did they debate between choosing guest and client--I want a damn drink, you fool! You didn't invite me there so I'm not your guest, hon. And they sometimes wear headsets at that location on 14th and Greenwich Ave, Starbucks is getting kinda gross. I know a lot of lefties hate them but I do like their product, but the aggressive marketing to existing customers is a big turn-off.